Sunday Sermons - What was yours like?

[Coexist]

This thread by babylonsister mentioned that "Barack Obama’s speech was played in full on the gospel radio station this morning." and brought to mind this post that mentions Obama's Race Speech affecting what would be preached this Easter Sunday in churches across the country.

So, my question to you is - if you went to Church on Sunday, what was your experience?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to reply.

[QC]

1. It was about Easter.

Nothing about Obama, and the priest didn't hump anything.

[LizW]

2. :wiping coffee spray off monitor:

That was sneaky, QC. I had a big mouthful of coffee!

[Jamastiene]

3. It sure the fuck wasn't God Damn America.

That much is for sure. Obama is not the messiah either, btw.

[GarbagemanLB]

7. Carville calling Richardson Judas implies otherwise. Sorry Hillbots, but your gal ain't the messiah.

[salbi]

4. I go to a racially mixed church and race was brought up

The sermon was mainly about Easter, but somehow the pastor was able to mix in a few comments about how Americans have misused and misinterpreted the verse about slaves submitting to their masters to condone slavery. He continued about the evils of slavery in this country. While I think it was an important message it was just a little strange on Easter morning. I do believe he was influenced by Obama's speech.

[treehuggnlibrul]

5. ours was about change and unity.

Ours was about Easter, but about how the resurrection is about unity. That Easter is about change...

Not one word about politics, but I wondered if anyone else was drawing parallels. Our pastor is a woman -- a Lutheran minister. She often speaks out for gay rights, preaches on poverty as the greatest issue facing the church, speaks for peace, and is usually global and progressive in her topics. Don't know where she stands this year, and maybe *I* was just reading between the lines, but when she used words like unity and change... I took it as a quiet reference.

[nealmhughes]

6. I went Saturday night to beat the Easter Sunday rush. The sermon was on the Old Testament use of

water and this led to cleansing not literally but spiritually, and then the Resurrection Gospel. The overwhelming message was on our own "dirt" and how we need to practice what we supposedly preach.

Pretty standard Easter sermon, pretty standard Episcopal Church sermon. I have to say that the dark church, except for the candles until the first "allellulia" was pretty cool, everyone's face glowed by the light of their candles. A friend said he drove by and the stained glass window was glowing by our flickering candles and it was "freaky cool."

The smell of incense lingers in my jacket yet.

[Coexist]

11. what a great picture you painted.

[boston bean]

8. too bad O couldn't find the time to attend a service. nt

[Kber]

9. No Easter service for me

but I did attend a Bat Mitzvah.

The Rabbi did bring it up at Shabbat services on Friday and again on Saturday. He talked about the sin of slander -akin to murder b/c you can't ever really get your words back once spoken. He felt that Rev. Wright had been slandered. Apparently, he knows him personally and they have worked on anti-poverty projects together. He also felt that Obama has been slandered as an anti-semite.

Sunday was the Purim story and he drew a parallel between Esther and Barack Obama that I thought was interesting. In summary, Esther finds herself in a position to speak truth to power, but it takes time and prayer to summon the courage tell the King something he doesn't want to hear. Obama spent much of his campaign trying to be "post-racial" but events put him in a similar situation to Esther and, like her, he chose to take advantage of the position he found himself in to tell us, as a nation, something we needed to hear about our country.

The Hav-Torah portion, interestingly was on the prophet Jeremiah who was, well, damning Israel for it's neglect of the spirit of God's will, including the neglect of the poor and the tilting of the rules to favor the wealthy and powerful.

After hearing Obama's speech, The Bat-Mitzvah girl rewrote a portion of her teaching to encompass the role of the prophets to tell us the uncomfortable and even terrifying consequences of neglecting the true message and commandments of God and that the prophet Jeremiah was doing the hardest thing God can ask of a person when he prophesied upcoming disaster.

It was an interesting weekend that included lots of discussion in and out of temple. :)

[Coexist]

10. thank you, that is very interesting.

[Barack_America]

15. Thanks for sharing that. What a fascinating take on recent events!

:hi:

[noel711]

12. Since you asked....

I am one of those rabble-rousing preachers...

And since you asked, when I got up in the pulpit, I said:

"Before I begin my message I want to issue a caveat:
If any of you plan to run for president in the future,
I suggest you leave now, just in case my remarks come back
to haunt you. Because I'm going to preach the gospel,
and the gospel is scandalous. The gospel of Jesus Christ
expects, demands that we step out of this world of oppression,
division, and hate, and step into his realm of peace, justice,
freedom and real love."

Why did Jesus Christ have to die? Because he was controversial,
provocative and insulting to the powers-that- be.
He said: "I have come not to bring peace but a sword!"
Aha! He's a violent radical!

Jesus said: "I'll tear down the temple, and in three days
build it up!" Aha! Domestic TErrorism!

Jesus said: "I come to set father against son!"
Look! He's against the nuclear family!

JEsus hung out with the low-lifes, and those kinds of people that
we don't want in our nation!
He touched those people infected with terrible
diseases like leprosy!
He fed thousands, but they did nothing to earn or deserve free food.
He had odd relationships with women, and even talked to them.
He broke laws, and criticised the government. He had to be taken down.
This is what the world does when we point out its brokenness and unfairness.
It takes us down...But God always has the last word...

Etc. etc. No body walked out. They laughed, they applauded.
And I haven't been fired, yet...
But then no one in my congregation is running for president, yet.

After the Eucharist, I announced: YOu've just been given a glimpse of heaven:
people of all ages, from many places, from all races eating, drinking, singing,
rejoicing together. No body got hurt; we know true peace.
Take that out into the world, and live it.

sorry for the long exerpt; but you asked.

[Coexist]

16. that rocked!

well, well done.

[Barack_America]

17. Wish I could've been there.

That sounds like it was a fascinating sermon!

[Recursion]

13. Comparison of the Luke and John resurrection stories

How in John Mary only recognizes Jesus after he calls her by name, while in Luke the angel answers the disciples' question with an apt question: "why do you seek the living among the dead?"

[Zynx]

14. I went to the Cathedral in Milwaukee so it was pretty tame.

It was about starting anew and reconciliation and turning back wickedness.

[K Gardner]

18. Catholic Mass w/ a wonderful homily on Unity and Brotherhood among all men. I also

watched the entire sermon from Trinity, which was without a doubt the most uplifting service I'd ever seen in my entire life.

[treestar]

19. The priest damned America for its racism

:hide:

Seriously, he talked about religious themes only, as he usually does. He never gets into politics. In general, I have found that to be the case in my experience with the Catholic church.

Side note of interest: On Good Friday we read the Passion, the part about Christ being arrested and so on. When you read this, there is a lot of reference to "the Jews." The missal has a little paragraph as a footnote, telling us not to hate the Jews and to remember that Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the apostles were Jewish. So even the Catholic Church is becoming politically correct to some degree!

[SoxFan]

20. Forgettable

I'm a parishioner at St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester, NH, but yesterday we went to Mass at St. Catherine of Siena, aka "Our Lady of the Lexus", a parish that is home to many of the economic and political bigshots in town.

Eminently forgettable.

I'll be glad to get back to the Cathedral, where the rector, Father Joe, has a gentle sense of humor that conveys a message of compassion, forgivenessm and repentence in the right way.

[Kber]

21. Worshiping with the extended family?

[SoxFan]

22. Nope

Too damn lazy to be up and out the door for the 10:30 Mass!

The extended family would have meant a drive to St Luke the Evangelist over in Plaistow, and that wasn't gonna happen in the morning!

[Sulawesi]

23. I am an atheist and got some work don.